The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1887-09-14
Ieffsrson Davis 70 Bishop galloway,
Ak OPEN LETTrR-


DER S,R:-On seeing your address
delivered at Brook haven, Mississippi Oh
the 10th ult as published in The Tunes
Democrat, of New Orleans, on the iitn,
1 wrote to you calling your attention 10
passages cited from your address, ana
sent you printed copy of my letter 10
Gov. Lubbock, of the Goth of July last
entertained The reasonable supposition
that YOU had somehow been misled as
to the purport of that letter, apd that
upon an examination of the text you
would acknowledge the injustice you
had done me, or if this expectation was
not we'll founded, that you would marx
the passages on which your structures
were founded, and return the letter to
me, and this requested you to do.
You replied to my letter on the 10th
ult., but did not meet the issue | present.
ed, did not return the printed copy of
nv letter, or specify the passages OF 1t
which caused your attack. In your let
ter, both kind aud courteous, you refer
red to what Judge Reagan had written
and what the saloon men of Texas had
said. / replied, on the Goth of August,
that was not responsible for what Mr..
Reagan had written, or what the saloon
men had said, aud called your attention
to the failure to return the printed copy
of my letter as requested, and in conclu-
sion, wrote that my first letter was
from ga desire to avoid public discus
sion with you; that desire remains. 1t
depends upon you whether / shall be
driven to the alternative of presenting
my case before the public" that being
the tribunal before which you had ar
raigued me. To this you replied, send
ing back the printed copy as it had been
sent to you, with an apology fer having
accidentally omitted to enclose it in
your previous letter. This forces upon
me the alternative of replying to your
address by an open letter.
You have expressed sorrow because |
answered the inquiry of friend for my
opinion on political question, and en-
ploy many kind and complimentary ex-
pressions in regard to me, but in view of
your persistence in unjustifed assail-
ment, your compliments seem ike the
garlands with which in the ofdeI time a
sacrifcial offering was decorated. Now
it is my turn to grieve, not for you per
sonally, but that a dignitary of the
Methodist Church, South, should have
left the pulpit and Bible to mount the
political rostrum and plead the higher
law of prohibitionism-the substitu-
ton of force for free will moral re-
sponsibility, the obligation to do unto
offers as we would be done by, and the
brotherly love taught by the meek anC
IowIy Jesus whom we adore. In this
see the forbidden union of Church anc
State, my grief is real, and relates tC
both.
Disfranchised though be, the love oil
my life for the Constitution and the lib
critics it was formed to secure remains al
ardent in age as it was in youth.
The Methodist Church, South" has
been to me the object of admiration anC
grateful affection, because of its fidelity
to principle, despite the pressure o.
wealth and power, by the zeal of its un
derpaid ministers who have gone along
, bye-ways to penetrate unfrequented re
gions and there "preach the gospel t
the poor" Often has my memory re
called the prophetic vision of BishoT
, Marvin. Will it be fulfilled by intro
ducing politics into the organization o
the Church he nobly illustrated?
This reply, it may be proper here t.
remark, is not made to you in you
character of dignitary of that church
but in that which for that occasion yor
have assumed-as political partisan
1t is untena5le to deny that the move
ment in which you have engaged is polit
zeal, for its aim is to elect Representa-
tives pledged to enact, to govern tn,
body polite. 1t is true that you desig
nate the movement "a moral reform,
J but it seems like irony thus to term peDa
statutes hedged about by extraordinary
, measures of prevention. Y
) There are two noticeable omissions il
: your published criticism of my letter t.
, Ex-Gov. Lubbock. First, no mention o
, anything to be found in that letter
second, no statement of the amendment
! pending in Texas, on which my opinion
was asked, and therefore which was the
subject of my answer. In my first not
to you the passages of your address wer
cited, which appeared to me to be un
warranted by the letter on which you
attack was made. 1t was quite irrele
want to inform me what somebody els
had said or done. You had assailed nj
| for certain letter which had written
The closing sentence of your published
!, address was: Chow sad that the las
words of soldier, sage or Christian
should become the shibboleth of the sa
: looms" One who shall attentiveIy reaC
the letter against which your attack wa
directed, must readily perceive why yot
did not comply with my request tina
you would mark the passages on which
your structures were founded Their,
was no reference in my letter to saloons
Your intelligence does not permit tn,
supposition that you did not perceiy,
the distinction between personal ina
I lienable rights which | asserted Govern
ment was bound to protect, and priv
leges which Government might refuse OF
grant as the public welfare should re
: quire. The most credulous and ignor
, ant of your partisans, If they have fol
lowed Mrs. Primrose's advice and have
kept "their eyes about them" cannot
have failed to see tnat to keep a saloon
is not personal right, but privilege tC
. be obtained by getting license for thai
purpose, subject to such restrictions and
conditions as the law has imposed. Tx
you il would be needless to say that un
der our policy of local option it may moi
be possible everywhere to obtain thai
license upon any terms whatever.
After more diligent search of my
letter than you have seemed to have
given before attacking il in your public
address, you have found the hypotheti.
cal reference to the wooden horse" and
that is all of mine 20 which you have
referred. To that | reply, if confined to
narrow limits and with sufficient ma.
iority to assure that the measure rests
on the consent of the governed, | am in
favor of Local Option" but if insidi-
ousIy employed to gain vantage ground
for wider operations, then it should be a
warning against lurking evil. Ny re-
marks had only that extent.
| According to the reported proceedings
of the Prohibition Convention of our
State, yon were of the minority who
opposed making ia State question, and
80 far we would appear to agree
i Though the Constitutional Amend
ment pending in Texas was the subject
on which my opinion was asked and
given, you have spoken only OF ''whis-
| ky traffic" and Saloons" together with
the incidents and accidents of the cam
vass In Texas. OF the last it may be
said, when you have more experience in
such matters you will probably realize
| that the defeated party in an election il